Potash shares fall after Canada tax changes, China supply contract

Reuters Staff

1 Min Read

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, March 19 (Reuters) - Shares of potash-producing companies tumbled on Thursday after the Canadian province of Saskatchewan made a change in the way it taxes them and Belarus settled a supply contract with Chinese buyers at a lower than expected price.

Potash Corp of Saskatchewan , the biggest fertilizer company by market capitalization, fell 3.3 percent in New York in early trading. Germany’s K+S AG was down 3 percent, and Mosaic Co and Agrium Inc dropped 1.7 and 2.6 percent respectively in New York.

Belarus will increase the price of potash exports to China by $10 to $315 per tonne in the first half of this year, Belarussian Potash Co said on Thursday, a rise its biggest rival, Russia’s Uralkali , criticized as too small.

Potash-rich Saskatchewan said on Wednesday it will require potash miners to take tax deductions based on their capital spending over a longer period of time, boosting government revenue by C$150 million ($118 million) a year.

$1=$1.27 Canadian
Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by
Peter Galloway